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Irrigation (Irritation?) In Central Asia
November 23rd, 2012
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), an interesting graphic on irrigation in Central Asia which contributes to part of the growing issue of water competition in Central Asia: Even before Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began their recent push to build hydroelectric dams along Central Asia’s two main rivers, downriver countries were coping with water scarcity challenges caused […]
Read more »Trickle-Down Diplomacy: South American Style
November 22nd, 2012
Via The Economist, an interesting report on Evo Morales efforts to swap a stream for a piece of Chilean seafront: THE Silala (known as the Siloli in Chile) trickles down from Bolivia’s unpopulated Andean plateau to the Chilean border. Little more than a ditch in places, the stream is nevertheless the cause of renewed tension […]
Read more »Water Tensions Overflow In Ex-Soviet Central Asia
November 21st, 2012
Via Terra Daily, a report on the water tensions of Central Asia: The ex-Soviet states of Central Asia are engaged in an increasingly bitter standoff over water resources, adding another element of instability to the volatile region neighbouring Afghanistan. Plans in mountainous but energy-poor Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for two of the world’s biggest hydro-electric power […]
Read more »Gaza’s Other War Is Over Water
November 21st, 2012
Via Pacific Standard, a look at the water challenges facing Israel & Gaza: Of all the things the governments of Israel and Gaza have against each other, the fate of a water treatment plant would seem like the least of the problem. A little-noted UN report released in August argued the opposite: that the rockets […]
Read more »A Global Treaty on Rivers: Key to True Water Security
November 21st, 2012
Via Yale’s Environment360, a report on the possibility that two separate global river treaties are close to being approved: Is peace about to break out on the world’s rivers? It is amazing that until now there has been no global agreement on sharing international rivers. From the Mekong to the Jordan and the Niger to […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Qinxu Groundwater Management Solution – Innovation or Economic Impediment?
November 18th, 2012
Two interesting articles and commentary examined a new groundwater management system instituted in Qinxu, a County in Shanxi Province in China – called the Qinxu Groundwater System. The first, via Aquadoc, give us an overview of the Qinxu Groundwater Management System A new groundwater management system in Qinxu, China is a promising solution: Farmers are […]
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